In the past, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Registration Publication Sho 60 (1985)-71530, component parts for a vehicle wheel suspension have been attached to a subsidiary frame in such a manner as to provide a suspension sub-assembly requiring alignment of a predetermined value. The necessary alignment adjustment is made and the resulting sub-assembly is then attached or assembled to a vehicle body on an assembly line.
However, in the foregoing process it is not unusual that the suspension sub-assembly may be attached to the vehicle body in some position other than the desired reference position for the suspension sub-assembly thereby causing a displacement in or deviation from the desired alignment of the wheels relative to the vehicle body and, consequently, it becomes necessary to make a wheel alignment adjustment of the suspension on a completely assembled vehicle. Such an adjustment of the wheel alignment requires the skill and time of an experienced mechanic and must be carried out in a pit beneath the vehicle where the working environment is less than that desired by most experienced mechanics. This imposes some burden and dissatisfaction on the part of the worker and limits to some degree the extend to which productivity may be enhanced on the vehicle assembly line.
The present invention avoids the foregoing problems and difficulties by providing a process and apparatus for properly aligning a suspension assembly relative to a vehicle body before it is assembled to the vehicle body thereby making it unnecessary to make a wheel alignment adjustment of the suspension on a completely assembled vehicle.